It`s A `Fair Deal` For Harbaugh, Bears

August 04, 1987|By Don Pierson, Chicago Tribune.

PLATTEVILLE, WIS. — Jim Harbaugh became an official employee of the Bears Monday, ending a holdout of only four practices.

After his attorney, Leigh Steinberg, and Bears director of finance Ted Phillips reached accord at midnight, the team`s No. 1 draft choice signed a four-year contract at 8 a.m. and took the field at 9:30.

Harbaugh beat both the heat of the first two days of training camp and the system. The Michigan quarterback`s contract is scheduled to pay $1.5 million, which means the Bears failed in their effort to roll back 1986 prices.

Phillips also said veteran cornerback Mike Richardson and his agent are taking the ``significant`` step of traveling to Lake Forest for talks this week. Fourth-round draft choice Sean Smith, a defensive lineman from Grambling, signed Monday afternoon, making Richardson the last holdout.

Although the Bears compromised more than Harbaugh did, club President Michael McCaskey complimented Phillips on ``a very fine job`` in handling his first No. 1 draft pick since taking over for Jerry Vainisi, the departed general manager.

``There hasn`t been a rollback,`` McCaskey said.

The turning point may have come on Sunday night when Steinberg greeted Phillips with a burst of water from Harbaugh`s Uzi-shaped squirt machinegun.

``I had never met him,`` Steinberg said.

``We told him if we don`t get the money, we`d shoot him. It lightened things up,`` Harbaugh said.

``It`s a fair deal,`` Phillips said.

Harbaugh got a signing bonus of $520,000 plus annual base salaries of $175,000, $205,000, $255,000 and $320,000, plus a $25,000 injury insurance policy. Of course, he will have to make the team to get the salary.

The contract is more than the $1.3 million the Bears paid for last year`s No. 1 choice, running back Neal Anderson. It represents the premium compensation that traditionally goes to quarterbacks.

The Bears refused to wait for St. Louis to sign No. 6 pick Kelly Stouffer or for Atlanta to sign No. 13 pick Chris Miller--the two other quarterbacks in the first round besides No. 1 pick Vinny Testaverde of Tampa Bay, who signed for $8.2 million for six years.

That precedent set before the draft by Tampa owner Hugh Culverhouse undermined efforts of other owners to hold back prices during a year when the new network television contract for the league is paying only a small increase.

In the case of the Bears, they got a break in the second round when they signed receiver Ron Morris for a reported $900,000 over four years, an amount slightly less than some players drafted around him.

At one time, Phillips came close to signing Harbaugh for whatever Miller gets minus $500,000, but Steinberg and Harbaugh were happy with their own numbers.

In keeping with Steinberg`s policy for athletes to give back something to their school and community, Harbaugh will donate $300 for every Bears` victory to an antidrug and alcohol abuse program. He also will give money to the Michigan athletic program.

While teammates reported here on Friday, Harbaugh spent the day at his apartment in Wheeling shooting baskets with his dad, Jack, an assistant coach at Pitt. Jack then drove to Platteville to watch the Bears open camp on Saturday.

``As a coach, he wanted to see me get into camp, but he understood the business side,`` Jim said.

Harbaugh had spent the last month practicing with rookies, quarterbacks and assorted veterans at Lake Forest at an unofficial training camp, so he is not behind.

When negotiations heated up, Steinberg and Jim hopped a plane from Midway on Sunday. On the way to the airport, Harbaugh`s girlfriend, Linda, quizzed him on the playbook.

By the time he took his turn at quarterback Monday morning, his dad had returned to Pitt.